Jigsaw
by fangthane
Summary: Batman takes on the ultimate serial killer
1. Chapter 1

**Warning!**

**Warning! This story is rated M for mature. This story contains adult situations, strong language and gore.**

**I am posting this special writing due to the graphic description of gore and related issues.**

**Please do not send me any angry e-mails**

**Warning!**

Disclaimer: I do not nor would I ever claim to own or control anything about Batman or anything created by Bob Kane. Anything that resembles Batman or anything related to Batman is the sole ownership of those involved. Since I was old enough to go to the local theater and watch the black and white serials of Batman, I have been transfixed by him and his world. I read and researched him and all those he came in contact with. I hope I can bring to the readers an enjoyable adventure and something new to a character I love.

Freeze

Batman dove behind the bar landing on beer bottles and cans. He slipped and crashed but avoided the attack by Victor Freeze who, in his massive silver suit, could not keep up with the Dark Knight. "Come Batman, it will only hurt a moment, just a little cold and its over." Batman could hear Freeze charging up his massive suit to either jump or surge forward to smash through the bar. Freeze pulled a thermal ice charge from a compartment on the leg of his suit and pulled the pin. In the air he would drop it and freeze everything.

Batman pushed a bottle from under his leg and opened a small pouch on his belt. He listened as Freeze moved about slowly but Batman knew he was going to jump and had to be ready. In his hand he held a concussion grenade and as quietly as possible, moved to an attack position. 

Both combatants attacked and jumped at each other. Batman tossed the grenade and rolled across the bar top. Freeze saw the grenade and blasted the orb with his ice gun. The concussion grenade became covered in a block of ice and exploded. Freeze screamed as the ice blasted back at him shredding his suit. Batman watched as the grenades concussion hurled the scientist through the wall and into the gutter. Pedestrians ran and screamed as Freeze landed spewing blood and debris everywhere.

Batman stepped through the hole and carefully moved on the Doctor. Freeze slowly grunted and spit blood, his hand reached toward Batman. "Here, to many bystanders, don't release the spoon." Batman took the ice bomb from him and looked about on the sidewalk. At his feet, he saw a nail and slid it into the spoon hole, deactivating the explosive.

Freeze looked up at Batman. "Wow, this is funny, I feel cold!" Batman knew the suit was failing and Victor Freeze would die. He remembered a meat storage building nearby and if he had time he could get Freeze to it. The Dark Knight grunted and screamed as he lifted Freeze into his arms then slung him on his back. "God Victor, you put on weight, your into the ice cream to much, try diet frozen dinners or something." 

Victor Freeze watched the sidewalk pass beneath him. "Why do we do this, you and I, I couldn't kill you, as much as you could let me die?" Batman's legs wobbled as he walked down the street. "I don't know Victor, why did you escape, you had everything you needed, your wife, the lab?" Freezer coughed and spit blood on the street. "Arkham told me they where cutting funding, and my lab was first." 

Batman was getting tired and almost dropped Freeze. Ahead he saw the meat storage plant and was lucky to find a old shopping cart. With a heave, he lowered Freeze into the cart and rolled him to the door. The entry way was locked but with the weight of the cart and momentum, Batman crashed through it.

Inside, Batman could barely see but he could make out some blinking lights in the distance. As he ran, his boots slipped on oil and other substances but he could clearly make out the freezer door. The cart was about to collapse as Batman slid to a stop in front of the door. A large lock hung from the latch and Batman shook his head. "If it isn't one thing, its another, I just cant win." Batman looked Victor over and found a small metal braided hose line. With a yank, he ripped it from his anodized fitting and shot the white gas at the lock which froze and crumbled. 

Once inside Batman felt the cold and almost instantly began to lose feeling in his hands. Freeze looked up at him and pushed him toward the door. "Its sweltering in here, you go, I will be fine." Batman stumbled to the door patting his arms to get the circulation back. "Sweltering, your kidding I'm going numb!" Freeze let his head slowly fall back to the floor. "I wont let them stop my work." Batman shook from a chill, and stood at the door. "I will talk to them Victor, you wont lose your lab." Freeze propped himself up and smiled. "You would do that, can you help? I am not one to ask for help, and I don't give thanks that easy."

Batman slowly closed the freezer door. "Yes Victor I will, you rest, the police will be here soon." 

Once the door was closed, Batman pinched the spot between his eyes and sat on the floor. "This is getting so old." As he opened his eyes, the Dark Knight focused on a small lit area ahead. He concentrated and could make out someone sitting in a chair. Walking carefully as not to fall, Batman came upon a woman in a chair who sat dead, her eyes staring into space, two massive hypodermic needles where hooked to a machine which had plunged them into her arms. He looked over the device and followed wires and gears to a television and a clock. As he moved around the dead woman he kicked a small cassette recorder on the floor at her feet. 

Batman had seen the style of cassette recorder used by the Riddler, but this wasn't his style. Carefully he started the recorder.

_"Hello Brenda, for most of your life you have given up everything for your drug. Your money, family and now your child. All you needed was one more fix one more ride and traded your five month old son for one last hit. I have kept you clean Brenda for a week, but the drug is still in your mind. You now have a choice, you sit with two hypodermic needles filled with your drug waiting to go into your body. But Brenda, be warned, the dosage is lethal and your child sits before you in a basket above a meat grinder. All you have to do is wait one minute, one minute and you and your son will be free. If you push the foot pedal on the floor you will get your final hit, and your child dies. The choice is yours."_

Batman slowly peered into the hole on the floor. The meat grinder ran with a silent whirr as he peered and saw a small face looking back at him. But that's all that remained, a face. Batman fell back in shock and stared up at the dead woman. "A minute, you couldn't wait one damn minute." He stood and shook his head. "Now what sick son of a bitch would do this. As much as the nuts at Arkham are lost upstairs, I don't think any would take the life of a child."

Jonathan Kramer sat watching several monitors on a makeshift desk. His head throbbed and he dumped a bottle of Methotrexate on the desk and swallowed three with a gulp of Pepsi. He had finished watching Brenda die and was about to turn off the system when the Batman had appeared. "Well my dark friend, seems you have stumbled onto something that you shouldn't, now maybe you will become part of it."

Batman reached into his belt and produced a small cell phone. He was about to key Commissioner Gordon and advise him on what he had found when he remembered that Jim had gone on a much needed vacation. Instead he dialed the police dispatch desk to have Chief Inspector Oran contacted. Batman didn't know much about Oran, but he was in charge when Gordon was away. The phone rang but a sound shook Batman as he spun to face the old television screen. The screen sparked to life with brilliant white snow then cleared to show a small white puppet. The doll slowly turned and its mouth moved. The voice Batman heard was a raspy sound of evil.

_"Hello Batman, you have inadvertently walked into a simple choice I gave Brenda, now you are involved. You have something in common with her, an addiction. You wear your strange garb and put your life on the line for others. The reason for this is obviously something deep within you, an…addiction. Do you like games Batman, you are about to play one. You will be given the chance to save three people, but you will be only able to save one. The choice is yours."_

Batman was aware that this killer had to be watching him. He slowly turned and scanned the warehouse. In the rafters he spotted a small camera and approached it. "If you know anything of me, your aware…I hate games, and when we meet, you will realize that." With a quick flip of his hand, Batman sent a Bata rang to the camera causing it to shatter. 

Kramer watched as the monitor flashed and went blank. 

Addiction

Oran struggled to keep his footing as he walked into the meat packaging facility. The forensic team had just finished up and the body was just being zipped into the standard yellow body bag. In the dark as he approached the scene in the dim light, he could make out the silhouette of The Batman. He slowly moved towards the Dark Knight, he was assured by Gordon that Batman was always a help to the police, but he gave Oran the creeps. 

Oran cleared his throat to get the Dark Knight's attention. Batman slowly turned and focused on the Detective. Oran stood only five foot five and was a bit portly. Batman noticed that he wore a black leather Eisenhower style short coat, and he wore blue jeans. Not a very professional appearance for a man of his position he thought. Oran again cleared his throat and spoke. "Um…Freeze got away, he exited out a rear access junction and vanished." Batman stared at Oran for a moment then spoke. "You mean he found a back door and got away." Oran glanced down a bit embarrassed and responded in a whisper. "Yes he got away, we had the whole area covered in a perimeter, but he…how the hell does someone dressed like that get away?" Batman pinched the bridge of his nose again with gloved finger's then dropped his hand before he spoke. "He isn't the problem now, someone else is". Batman turned and walked towards the exit.

Oran followed Batman as he spoke. "He is being called "Jigsaw" by the media, and the press boys are eating this shit up. He cuts a small jigsaw shape in his victim's and seems to make them kill themselves." Batman exited into the alley Freeze had escaped into, he turned and looked at the Detective. "He gives them a choice, not a good choice but a choice. Oran, can you give me any files or info on this nut?" Oran smiled and agreed with a nod. "Yeah sure anything Bat's." 

Batman walked away from Oran into the darkness of the alley. When he was far enough distant, he tapped a small button on the back of his buckle. In the distance, a large car activated, its eerie dark wings and bullet proof glass reflected the stars above it. The car rolled gradually up to the Dark Knight and stopped. Batman reached out to open the canopy when he was struck by a thought. "An addiction, is this an addiction, am I addicted to doing this." He lifted his hands and looked at them, made a fist with one. The material made a slight crunch then he released the fist and opened the canopy and entered. He drove into the night with the thoughts of addiction repeating in his head.

"I see you have returned, is the ice man on…ice?" Alfred said from the dashboard monitor. Batman didn't look at the screen. "No, he escaped, he was hurt pretty bad, I didn't think he had the strength to escape, I was wrong." Alfred's small black and white image scowled. "You are not perfect, we all make mistakes, even you." Batman smiled "I cant afford mistakes." The car roared through the streets back to the cave, to rest.


	2. Chapter 2

The Beginning

Bruce stood barefoot in the pool area of the mansion. He watched as the water rippled the stars above him. In his hand a small cup of tomato soup steamed around his face as he sipped it. Still looking at the water, he noticed the signal. Looking up into the sky, the Bat signal reflected off some misty clouds, he closed his eyes, and spoke to himself under his breath. "Again, again, maybe he was right, maybe this is an addiction, there are times I need this, need to feel the rooftops under my boots, and other times its horrible." Bruce padded towards the mansion placing the cup awkwardly on a table. He glanced at the soup as it spilled, it reminded him of a blood pattern. He thought as he ran to the glass patio door. "I am addicted, I am."

Batman was now in a run, dodging objects in the cave. A huge penny, a bin of multicolor titanium wire used by the Joker, he ran harder and harder. Alfred stepped aside as the Batman approached. "I take it your in a unusual mood?" Batman skidded to a stop at the butler. "I am angry, I hate when someone points out my faults, especially a nutcase." Alfred smiled slightly and crooked his head. Master Bruce, we all have faults, even you, remember you still cant ride a bicycle!" Batman stopped suddenly and spun to look at his friend. Then, a broad smile stretched across his face. He was now calm, or at least calmer. "Yes I remember, and thank you for reminding me." A black gloved hand reached and selected a switch on a large control panel. Piercing screams of metal echoed in the cave as hundreds of Bats flew in all directions. One car after another rolled past Batman on chain tracks. He waited till his oldest and favorite car stopped at his feet.

"Hello old friend he whispered to the car." Alfred placed a small parcel in the passenger seat. "A small meal, you need food, no fast food, even if the restaurants give it to you free." Batman buckled the seat belt and moved the bag to the floor. "I don't eat at fast food…well not often." Alfred smirked as the cars jet turbines whined and the car launched out the tunnel.

Inspector Oran looked closely at the sleeping bear in the cage. He was told to meet the Batman here and again, he felt the creeps. The bear licked its mouth as it narrowed its gaze on the Detective. Oran made a face at the bear as Batman appeared from the darkness. Oran screamed seeing the figure approach. "OH SHIT, you scared the crap out of me, good jeez make a noise or something!" Batman smiled but didn't say anything since it was dark Oran could not see his grin. Oran dug through his pocket and produced a small cell phone in a zip lock bag he held it towards Batman as he spoke. "This was found in the front seat of a patrol car. The boys had stopped to investigate a body found in an alley and when they got back to the unit, this was there."

Batman took the phone and looked closer at it. Oran moved into the light and away from the bears cage. "Its been dusted and they didn't find jack, and we didn't activate it, I thought you might be able to get more information from it than we can."

Batman saw the jigsaw symbol on the bag written in red paint. He removed the phone from its bag and located the power button. "Thank you Oran, I am going to turn it on when your gone, if it's a bomb, I wouldn't want you hurt." Oran looked confused at first then a chill ran up his spine. He knew Batman dealt with the serious crazy's and a bomb wouldn't be to far fetched. Oran moved quickly towards the zoo exit. "Thanks, um, I will be in touch." Batman watched as the Detective walked quickly, then run to his car. When he was out of site, Batman activated the phone. The device began to glow blue, then a text message appeared.

"_Hello Batman, somewhere in the city a man sits looking at his addiction, and has a simple choice, refuse the urge, or die. If he can beat his addiction, you will receive no more messages on this phone, if he succumbs to it, you will receive directions to reach him and stop his death. Remember Batman, nothing is as easy as it appears, you choose the path you take, and the consequences that occur, again you can stop yourself and end your own addiction, the choice is yours."_

With a growl of frustration Batman ran to the car and jumped in, his foot landing on the ignition trigger. The massive black automobile screamed to life. But…he had no where to go, just sit and hope, he stared at the phone and waited with a grim foreboding feeling.

Barry Potter awoke in a sitting position, his head swam as he shook it to clear his sight. He sat before a Sigma standard slot machine, its lights winked at him, also around him where buckets and buckets of quarters. The last thing he remembered was drinking his rum and coke and thinking he could get back the money he had lost in Black Jack. Then…this bewildering situation. He was locked into a seat by metal bands and a collar was around his neck. It was quiet, except for the light chimes of the slot machine but something echoed to his right. He turned as best he could and watched as a small doll on a tricycle rolled out from the shadows. Its puppet mouth moved as a recording played.

"_Hello Barry, you have spent most of your life gambling. Gambling your savings, gambling your health. Everything is a bet. Now you have the chance to end this, end the addiction. Before you set's a slot machine, and around you the coins to feed it. All you need to do is not play the machine for one hour. One hour and you will be free."_

Barry grabbed at the metal colored and bindings that held him in place. Above the slot machine a small television sparked to life. On the screen, his wife and seven year old son sat tied up in the back seat of a car. The camera panned back, the car was wedged in a auto crusher. He yelled "Let me go you damn freak, I wont gamble, you will lose." The puppet continued.

"_If you play, every time you lose, your collar constricts, every time you win the crusher closes on your family. If you pull the lever and get three cherries, you will be released, but your family dies. Win or lose, you decide."_

Barry laughed out loud, and picked up a coin. "I aint playing, you loser, I can beat this and you." He watched his family struggle and with out knowing why or how, he casually dropped the quarter in the slot. "Oh no, no." He sat a moment and refused to pull the lever. Suddenly the lever yanked downward by itself, and the tumblers spun. A cherry, a lemon, and a grape landed. The collar clicked tighter and Barry began to sweat.

Batman sat looking upward into the night sky. He repeated the word "addiction" over and over in his head. He closed his eyes just a moment to relax when the phone chirped loudly causing him to jump. He flipped the device open and read the text message.

"_Proceed down Wilson Parkway and turn right on Medford, follow Medford one mile East."_

The massive black auto's tires squealed as Batman floored the accelerator. He knew Gotham better then anyone, and made a sharp left down an alley, a short cut to Medford avenue. Garbage cans and debris flew in all directions as Batman held the car to within inches of the alley walls. In moments, he was on Medford avenue heading East when the phone sparked to life again.

"_Follow Medford Avenue to Bruceville avenue, go right on Pill Street."_

Batman slipped his right foot upward and slammed it down. The small panel on the top of the accelerator engaged the auxiliary jet and the car screamed faster. As he approached Pill Street, Batman had to hit the drift just right or he would slide into the bay. The car groaned and rubber yelled as it tried to grip cobble stones. Rocks and garbage shot into the bay as the car slid into a controlled right drift.

"_Follow Pill Street to Amsterdam Auto Wrecking yard."_

As the car roared down Pill Street as people ran out of the way of the black automobile. Batman remembered Amsterdam Auto had gone bankrupt many years ago, it was a perfect location for what Jigsaw did. The gates loomed ahead, locked with a massive lock and chain. Batman aimed the massive car at the gateway and crashed into the gates hurling them to the side.

The sound of gravel crunching under the cars tires echoed off rows and rows of flattened autos. Batman didn't have time to search everywhere and had already planned what to do. Reaching across the ornate dash, he flipped a small panel up. Beneath it a round green screen popped to life. Twisting a small dial, Batman scanned for heat signatures. A white line spun on the screen as the auto searched for heat sources. Three blips appeared with a chime. "One in front of me in the building, two on the other side of the yard." Climbing out of the auto, he glanced around and saw fresh tire tracks. He made a mental note to look at them later.

In the dark far to his right, someone watched his every move.

Batman walked to the building looking at the boarded windows then stopped. He thought to himself. "All new wood, seems someone wants me to use the door and not a window. OK, I'm game." The doorway was open and a long hallway stood in front of the Dark Knight. It was dimly lit but Batman could make out a door at the end. He started to step into the building and remembered something Jigsaw had said.

"you choose the path you take, and the consequences that occur, again you can stop yourself and end your own addiction, the choice is yours"

Carefully, Batman reached behind to the small of his back and retrieved a tether cannon. With a flip of a small button he deactivated the charge and pulled several yards of monofilament line out. He gripped the metal grappling hook and tossed it down the length of the hall. Slowly, the line settled to the floor, except where it landed on trip wires. The Dark Knight smiled slightly and yanked the cord. The bronze hook slid across the floor pulling the wires as shotgun blasts ripped up the floor and walls.

"Nice try…old school, but nice try." The Dark Knight walked in slowly still cautious of his surroundings. A sound caught his attention, the sound of a…slot machine. He checked the door and found no traps and with a kick sent it flying open. A man strapped into a chair turned his head and screamed. "Holy shit help me, this nutcase is gonna kill my family, I cant stop playing!"

Batman moved around Potter and examined the death device. Gears where everywhere, some moved some spun, others just sat there. Batman realized most where for show, they served no purpose. He ran a finger down from Potter's neck to his back and under the chair. The main control ran under the chair and into the slot machine. As he discovered this, Potter gagged as the neck vice closed tighter and Batman heard another sound, a sound of a woman and child screaming. Reaching into a holster on his boot, Batman pulled out a "Leatherman" tool and popped open a screwdriver.

Potter screamed as the tumblers stopped on three lemons. He watched as the crusher close a little more on his family. "Dear god do something!" He yelled at Batman. The Dark Knight gripped the panel as began to pry it open when he stopped. He glanced inside as saw the small hair like trip wire. "Son of a bitch, tricky little nut case." With care, Batman unhooked the wire and removed the panel. Again many gears and dials spun, lights blinked but Batman was now on to Jigsaw.

The machines wheels spun and landed on an odd trio, and again Potter gagged. Batman glanced up and saw he had maybe three more pulls of the lever and he would choke to death. Concentrating on the slot machine, the Dark Knight was stunned to see a package of plastic explosives which would have detonated if the trip wire had been pulled. Wires also ran from the bomb all over the inside of the machine.

Another pull of the lever and Potters screamed as he heard the rear window of the car burst, his family crying. "Dear god kill me but save them!" The lever pulled on its own and Potter lost, a click and the collar closed tighter. Now Potter was gasping for air. The lever dropped and Batman watched as the wheels stopped on one cherry, then two, then…


	3. Chapter 3

Batman stuck the tool in the gears and stopped the spindle as it near stopped on a cherry. He waited for an explosion, anything. The room was now quiet, no rings or chimes from the slot machine. He fell back sitting on the floor and hung his head into his hands. "Addiction, yea its an addiction." The Dark Knight followed gears and wires with care and released Potter who immediate ran from the building and to his family.

It took the police and Potter several hours to free the family while Batman stood in the shadows watching. Oran walked across the yard and noticed him. "I have the file on Jigsaw you asked for." The Dark Knight took the folder and was amazed it was near empty. "This is it, this nuts been killing for how long and you have photo's of bodies and that's it?"

Oran shook his head and looked at his shoes then looked back up. "Bat's this nut, he isn't like the others, the street kooks, he is…smart. He doesn't leave anything, no clues nothing." Batman handed the folder back to Oran and closed his eyes. "You said something about a body, a unit found a body, then the cell phone." Oran nodded. "Yeah it was a dealer, Heroin I think, his name was Pierpoint. The body was found in the park, you know the park in the Narrows, I have the file if you want it?"

Batman was already walking to the Detectives car. Oran hurried to catch up. In the distance, a small van sat parked in the darkness, its occupant watched closely.

Dealer

Batman glanced over the file as he drove to the park. The park in the Narrows was on record as the most crime filled area in the state. It was also an area that the dealers, pimps, murders and other sorts had a kill on site order for…Batman.

The black car cruised up Norton drive to the outskirts of the Narrows then a quick left off the road onto the sidewalk. The Batman parked the car in a alley near a abandoned church and set out on foot. As he did, he stopped and looked up at the church. He remembered going to this church when he was younger. Now like the occupants of the Narrows, it sat waiting to die.

Pierpoint's address was not far from the church but as the Dark Knight walked out into the open, several armed men exited from a doorway. One individual swung a pipe and yelled causing a echo. "WELL LOOK WHAT WE HAVE HERE, A BAT WANNABE!" Batman continued to walk towards the group without hesitation. The leader with the pipe began to maneuver towards Batman. "Must be a wanna be, The Bat isn't that stupid to come to the park alone." Three others followed behind the leader, each with a pipe.

Once in range, the leader swung at Batman but hit nothing but a metal gauntlet. Sparks flew as the titanium barbs dug into the iron pipe. Batman pulled away quickly causing the pipe to fly into the air. His other hand grabbed a handful of hair and yanked the punks head into an upcoming knee.

The leader made no sound as his face hit Batman's knee. Two of the followers immediately ran away, one stood his ground waving the pipe back and forth. Batman swung the leader around to face his friend. The leader spit blood all over himself and gagged. Batman dropped him to the street and looked at the remaining thug. "Drop the pipe while I am still in the mood to let you." The thug looked at him, then the pipe then dropped it and ran. The Dark Knight reached down and grabbed the punk again by the hair and began to drag him.

"YOU CANT DO THIS, I GOT RIGHTS!" Batman continued to drag the struggling leader to a small trestle over the central rail tracks. With a heave, he lifted the punk and hung him from his hair over the tracks. "OK now, this is my weak arm so you need to answer questions really fast. Do you know Johnny Pierpoint?"

The punk screamed and grabbed for Batman's hand. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER, ARGHHH THIS FUCKING HURTS!" Batman began to smile as he heard the loud whistle of a train approach. "Damn looks like the train is early, ya know this is going to be so messy, all squishy and such." The punk screamed again then took a breath. "YES I KNOW JOHNNY, HE IS A FUCKING DEALER, HE WAS ICED BY SOME DUDE IN A VAN I WATCHED IT, HE SOLD THE DUDE A BABY, DUDE GAVE HIM 6 GRAND NOW GET ME UP NOW!"

Batman held tight and could now see the train in the distance. "What did the killer look like?" The punk began to cry and pull at Batman's hands. "FUCKING SHIT HE WAS AN OLD DUDE, KEPT POPPING PILLS, WAS A FUCKING DRUGGY HIMSELF, LET ME FUCKING GO YOU FREAK!" The train passed under the trestle and Batman released the punk. He fell a short distance screaming until his belt that Batman had lashed to the bridge rail stopped him up short.

As Batman walked away, the punk yelled. "IM GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!" Batman smirked. "Take a number."

Batman stood outside a building that had at one time been the Standish Arms Hotel. Now it was a refuge for the dealers and users of Gotham. He entered through the front door and walked to the clerk in a bullet proof booth. The occupant watched him approach, looked him up and down and smiled. "Well look what the wind blew in, I guess you're here for the crack lab in the basement?" Batman looked at the grinning desk clerk and couldn't help but get angry. "No, but it will be next after I am done, and you will follow soon after."

The clerk slowly stopped smiling and realized he was trapped in his booth. Batman now smiled, "Yeah sort of stuck huh? Now you tell me where Pierpoint's room is and maybe if I am in a nice mood, I wont hurt you…much." The clerk pointed to the stairs and began to shake. "His room is on the second floor, room six, um the lab in the basement, I have nothing to do with it."

Batman ignored the clerk and walked up the stairs to the room. As he entered the hallway he watched as a man with his back to the Dark Knight, began to urinate on a door. As he passed, Batman struck out and smashed the mans head into the door. The transient slowly slid down the door into the puddle of his urine.

Pierpoint's room still had the yellow Police tape across the door. A tape seal was placed across the seam by the door knob. Batman simply opened the door breaking the seal and tape. Inside the room was a shambles, someone had gone through the room intent on finding something. The Dark Knight had never seen the Police rip a room apart like this, but after all, this was a bad area.

The room had several framed posters, a bed and a chest of drawers. In one drawer, Batman saw a blanket and rolled up towel, a makeshift bed for a baby. On the wall above the bed, Jigsaw has painted a message in Pierpoint's blood.

_"We are alike Batman, I am a person with extreme beliefs and I really think I am making a difference. I am a vigilante if nothing else. We are making a difference, its sad you must die."_

Batman looked closely at the blood and grabbed a pair of glasses on a night stand. Using them like a magnifying glass, he examined the words closely then he looked around the room and saw a pair of work boots neatly placed at the foot of the bed, and clothes strewn everywhere.

"OK Pierpoint, where is it, where's your stash." Batman began to look around the room for anything untouched. But everything was in disarray except the boots. A closer look at the boots and Batman saw some grit on the heels and dried grass. He used the same glasses and looked closer. Then he smiled.

Dropping the boots, Batman continued to search. He was about to give up when he found a pile of pornographic tapes in a corner. He kicked them about to look at them and one looked odd. He needed something to pick it up with safely and searched the kitchen for a sandwich bag. He found a small bread bag and using it, he carefully picked up the tape and pulled the bag over it to preserve it then he walked to the door.

As he exited, Batman heard a group of men running up the stairs at him. In the lead was the punk from the railroad bridge. "He's up here the mother fucker, he's dead!" The Dark Knight stood at the top of the steps and remembered something he had learned when he began as the Batman, never run up stairs in a group.

Batman reared back and kicked the punk in the face. He fell backwards and took the other men with him. At the bottom, the man who was urinating, stood up, staggered and kicked one of the punks in the head. "Next time let a guy take a piss you dumb ass." Batman walked over the groaning bodies and nodded to the standing man. He needed to get back to the cave.

The cave echoed the sounds of Bats flapping here and there and the light roar of a waterfall in the distance. Bruce Wayne sat in his outfit minus the cowl and looked into a microscope. Behind him, Alfred Pennyworth slowly opened the bread bag and with gloved hands, pulled out the VCR tape. "Master Bruce, how did you know this Pierpoint would have such a thing as a fake tape cassette." Bruce looked up from the microscope and spun in his chair. "I didn't, but I do know that dealers always hide their money."

Alfred examined the tape and popped its false top open. Inside he saw a rubber banded stack of one hundred dollar bills. "Seems he had a large sale recently." Bruce pulled a sheet of paper of a printer and looked at it closely. "Yes and I bet if you count it, it will total six thousand dollars." Alfred slowly counted the money and placed each bill separately on a lit table. "Yes six thousand, you knew this?" Bruce smiled and flipped the paper on the desk. "Yes, now we need to examine the money, and I mean really close." Bruce took a note and carried it to one of his favorite devices, a Electron microscope.

It took some time to ready the microscope but soon Bruce and Alfred looked at the bill, closer. Bruce moved the scanner over the bill and looked for anything. Hours later they where on the last bill and had yet to find anything.

"There is no way this nutcase didn't leave something, good lord, everyone leaves a part of them in all evidence." Bruce closed his eyes and rested his head on the control panel. Alfred suddenly yelled. "THERE, what's that!" Bruce stood quickly and looked. "It looks like charcoal."

Bruce aimed the analyzer laser at the particle and shot it. The laser would destroy the particle but its disintegration pattern would identify it. Alfred and Bruce watched as the computer list the identity. "I'm taking the bike, faster and less visible."

Drunk

Max Hill shook his head back and forth to clear it. He opened his eyes and was blinded by bright light. "OK enough with the fuckin light!" He could make out someone standing against a wall and he realized to his shock, he was chained and could not move.

He shook his head more and pulled against the chains. "What the fuck, let me fucking go, hey hey!" A voice pierced the bright light, a voice that made him stop. "Daddy, my head hurts and I cant move." Hill jumped up and was yanked back to his seat. "Becky, oh god, BECKY!"

The light suddenly stopped shining in his face, that's when he noticed a small puppet in a chair appeared in front of him. Hill could now see his six year old daughter chained to the wall. A chain ran from a collar on her neck, and each wrist was chained. All the chains ran into holes in to the wall behind her. On an odd pedestal in front of her sat a bottle of cheap Scotch. His daughter was trying to regain consciousness and began to cry.

"Its OK Becky, don't cry, Daddy's here. As he tried to calm his daughter, the puppet spoke.

_"Hello Mister Hill, yes Daddy is here and is he sober, or drunk again."_

The eerie vacant puppet eyes focused on Hill.

_"You have wasted your life inside a bottle and now your child's life stands in the balance of your temptation. Your wife is gone, your money is gone, and soon the state will take your daughter. Here is your chance to redeem what is left of your life. Before you sit's the bottle of destiny. When released, you can simply wait two minutes, and your daughter will be free, but will your addiction take over. Remove the bottle and the chains will retract and your daughter will die. The choice is yours."_

The puppet rolled away and disappeared from view.

Hill jumped as a loud metallic noise popped behind him and he realized he was free. He stood and ran to his daughter and yanked at the chains. "Let her go you fucking asshole!" No matter how much he pulled the chains wouldn't budge. He stood back, caught his breath and looked at the bottle. "Please Daddy no, he said not to, its only a two minutes."

Hill looked away from the bottle and concentrated on his daughter. "I can beat this guy Becky I can, its easy." Becky smiled and tried to hug him. Hill began looking around the room for something. The room was empty except for a large metal roll up door locked by two huge pad locks. In a corner he saw a small pile of broken bricks. He smiled and began to go through them looking at them closely. "What are you doing Daddy?"

Hill found a suitable brick and walked to the bottle of Scotch. "I told you I can beat him, its on a weight sensor, kinda like that idol in the Indiana Jones movie. I can put this on it and grab the bottle. If there is one thing I know, is the weight of a bottle of Scotch.

Becky screamed in horror as her father grabbed the bottle and slipped the brick in its place. But Hill gasped as he yanked the bottle and a small wire attached to it pulled out a pin. He stood there stunned as loud gears began to whine. Becky screamed in terror as the chains began to tighten.

Batman cruised towards the city when he saw the signal flash into the clouds. He stopped the bike and popped open the visor on his helmet and watched again. It flashed again, but this time it continued to flash. The more he watched he realized it was Morse code. It was fast but Batman could decipher it.

_"Hello Batman, do you not find it odd that we test the fabric of humanity. We watch as people throw away their lives and take others with them. You now have the last person to save. You have five minutes to get to at 10001 Birmingham Drive. Arrive any later, and you will fail."_

Batman twisted the throttle and rocketed down the freeway. He realized that Birmingham Drive was over five minutes away and he needed to shave precious minutes off the trip. He needed to change freeways and get to one beneath him and had no choice but to jump the bike from one freeway to the one beneath him.

The bike screamed as the front wheel rose from the ground. A small opening in the guardrail and Batman was airborne. "Oh this isn't good." The bike landed hard on the rear wheel then the front slammed hard.

Batman concentrated on gaining control as alarms flooded the heads up display in his helmet. The freeway was luckily empty as the bike swerved left and right. He continued on the freeway for three minutes and took the Birmingham exit. His concentration was broken as the bike's on-board computer interrupted his driving and spoke to him.

**"Starboard exhaust port manifold damaged, engine temperature exceeding recommended levels."**

Batman ignored the computer and turned onto Birmingham and rocketed towards a blocked road. "Just cant give me a break can you." He looked around and saw, unfortunately, his only way through, with grim determination he twisted the throttle.

A security guard turned his key in his time box and walked across the sporting goods section of Carl's Department store. He stopped to look at fishing gear, then lawn chairs and sat down in one with a sigh and closed his eyes. Then an explosion knocked him backwards out of the lawn chair. A black motorcycle screamed through the department store smashing and knocking things everywhere. It exited, disintegrating the front plate glass display windows and continued down the road.


	4. Chapter 4

Drunk (cont)

Becky pulled against the chains with no success. Her father grabbed the chains as well pulling with all his might then screamed as one of his fingers was pulled into the hole in the wall. "Becky I cant, I cant stop it. Oh god baby I'm sorry."

Batman flew down Birmingham Drive and watched the numbers fly past him. He didn't recognize the address but knew he was close. The building was a closed body shop and he had one way in. His right finger found the trigger and activated the forward mortar cannon preparing to blast his way through.

Hill fell backwards and landed in front of his bound daughter and began to cry, her air was being cut off, her eyes on his face as she looked down at him. Becky's face began to turn red from lack of oxygen, she managed to croak out the word "daddy" as she watched him drink his Scotch then he closed his eyes.

Batman was moving at 100 miles per hour and ducked his head behind the small canopy. He fired the cannon and fifty sand bags shot at the roll up door blasting it open. Hill was knocked backwards as the door exploded and the bike slid sideways into the room. Batman jumped from the bike and was in the air hurling towards Becky.

She slowly closed her eyes as the Dark Knight pulled a oxyacetylene torch from his belt. He jammed his hand between her neck and the collar to protect her skin. The flame heated the glove but its protective coating stopped any injury to her and Batman. She gasped and coughed as the collar opened. He then cut the metal binds holding her arms freeing her. Batman walked towards his bike.

Becky fell into her fathers arms and cried. Batman lifted the bike back up and looked back at them, he saw Hill slipping the bottle in his coat pocket. He shook his head, the drunk didn't bother to thank him for saving his daughter. He rolled the motorcycle out the hole to the street still shaking his head. The bike raced away towards the east and Jigsaw. Behind Batman unseen, a van followed.

Trap

Kramer sat watching five lap top computers with a smile. Soon the Batman would arrive and fall into his clever trap. "You are nothing but a glorified detective Batman, in a suit which you have tailored and it will be your death shroud." Kramer sat up as he saw a shadow move across the grass outside the Essex Country Club. He had left the perfect clues and set the perfect traps, and soon Batman would be tested yet again.

Kramer watched as a dog ran into the cameras view, it stopped then ran on. He closed his eyes and calmed himself. "Let the dice fall as they may, he will not survive the bombs, if he does, he will get the final clue.

A sound made Kramer sit up, it was faint but it was a sound. But…the sound was…behind him. Kramer stood and spun only to see a boot kick him in the face. He hurled backwards crashing into the lap tops knocking them asunder. Jigsaw landed on his face and slowly got to his hands and knees, spitting blood and a tooth out on the floor.

Batman stood on the platform Kramer had made into his control center. He smiled and walked into the light so Jigsaw could see him. "Nice try, but I am a bit better then a glorified Detective." Jigsaw stumbled to his feet and made sure he was still holding the small remote control he desperately needed. "How?"

Batman kicked a lap top aside and moved around the large platform to get closer to Jigsaw. "The grass particles on the dealers shoes was grass from the Country Club, so was the grit, the sand from the gold course. But you brushed it on with a sable paint brush, a bit pricey for a drug dealer. Then you made another mistake, you used the same brush to paint the message in blood on the wall. I found strands of the sable and grit in the blood."

Kramer was still shaking off the attack but was also getting very livid. He watched the Dark Knight closely, he needed to move a few feet more then he would have him. Batman still could not see Jigsaw's face, the hood on his robe covering his features. "Then you turned the apartment upside down looking for…your money. You where afraid you had left a clue as to where you really where.

You may be smart but you don't know anything about drug dealers. They always hide their cash in unique places, its safer. I found a particle of coke, coal to smelt iron, so I figured you where setting me up. By the way, the city monitors all buildings for any illegal power use, and this iron plant is closed.

Kramer's head swam, he was furious and had to remain in control, that was the key…control. "I underestimated you Batman, an error I will not make in the future." Batman moved slowly to the right, getting closer to jigsaw. He stopped short of where Jigsaw wanted him.

Batman pointed to a lap top on the floor. "The dog, that's Milton, Gotham police bomb dog. Soon all your toys will be disarmed and you will be in a nice cell at Arkham. Jigsaw moved to his left and motioned to a large window near Batman.

"You will come to realize Batman that you do not always have all the answers." Jigsaw touched a button on the remote and the window began to glow. Batman watched as the room on the other side of the glass became clear. An immense room with a large vat of molten iron boiling three stories down. Above the vat, Commissioner Gordon hung from a chain.

Jigsaw now smiled and spit out a clot of blood on the floor. "You see all the clues at the country club would have led you here. All you did was make the trip quicker. I've repeatedly warned you, you choose the path you take…and the consequences." Jigsaw tapped the button on his remote and Batman fell through a trap door.

The Dark Knight immediately smashed the barbs of his gauntlets into the walls of the shaft. Sparks filled the tube as he continued to fall, slower but he could not stop. The shaft opened up and he fell into a large glass box, a little larger then a coffin. Above him, a lid slammed shut and locked.

Batman looked through the glass and saw Jim Gordan hanging above him. The vat bubbled and he could feel the heat. He examined the box he stood in. Two inch thick glass and a metal frame held Batman a prisoner, on the floor was a small drain. On one wall of the coffin was a red button and a small web cam sat on a tripod outside.

Batman was continuing to examine the box when the strange puppet rolled slowly out on a tricycle.

"_As I told you Batman, you will have the chance to save three people but all you can do is save one. Potter continued to gamble and borrowed too much money from the wrong people. He was found floating in Gotham Bay. Max Hill had been diagnosed with liver disease, he will be dead in less than a month. You see Batman, the only person you can save is…you. Before you is the device of your addiction cure. You have one minute to remove your mask, press the button and activate the web cam. Millions will see your identity and end you addiction. If you do, you and the Commissioner will live, if not the Methane gas creeping in the floor vent will kill you, and the Commissioner will die also. Win or lose, the choice is yours."_

Batman could already see the slight blur of the gas flowing in the chamber. He reached under the edge of his cowl…and found the two small protrusions. Outside, Gordon screamed. "Don't you do it, don't you damn give in to him!"

Two glass lenses dropped in the eye holes of his mask. Under his belt buckle, Batman pulled a small silver cylinder. A thin plastic package peeled off the side of the cylinder and he placed it over his face. Kramer watched on his monitor curiously. Batman pressed the cylinder and a the device made a hiss. Under his cape unseen, the Dark Knight pulled out a Bata rang and waited. He had air for one minute and one chance.

Kramer became agitated as he watched as the clock above the coffin ticked off the seconds and all Batman did was stand there. He thought. "It would be sad to see them both die, but it was Batman's choice."

Batman watched the clock and began a countdown as the last remaining seconds passed. When the last second hit, the Dark Knight spun his cape around him and swung the Bata rang down at the drain. A spark flashed and the Methane ignited exploding the coffin apart.

Kramer stood up grabbing the monitor as he did. Batman fell in a heap and struggled to his hands and knees. He had one chance, and only one. Leaning back on his knees, he threw the Bata rang at the gear holding Gordon. The black weapon spun, hit and ricocheted off into the dark. He had failed.

The peg holding the chains retracted and Gordon fell. Batman heard a scream.

Kramer yelled into the microphone. "GAME OVER!" Batman stood and listened as the scream was not from Gordon but from the wall to his left. The metal lined wall screamed and turned instantly white. It disintegrated into a wall of stars and glitter. Victor Freeze lumbered in wearing a immense white suit. He aimed and blasted the vat of molten metal. Two thousand eight hundred degree metal froze instantly. Victor continued to fire the ray and arched it towards Batman. Gordon landed on the frozen metal, slipped to his backside and slid down the make shift ice ramp to Batman's feet. A look of astonishment on his face.

Kramer watched and hurled the monitor across the room in a fit of rage. Batman fell again to his knees and began to free Gordon. Freeze moved closer and Batman heard a speaker crackle. "I have been following you which is not easy, you get around a lot. I told you Batman, I do not know how to say thank you that easy. Consider this a…thank you. I will hold you to your word, about my lab." Batman nodded and stood helping Gordon to his feet. "Your lab is safe, as a matter of fact I know someone who will fund it indefinitely."

Gordon shook off the last of the ropes and looked at Freeze. "Now I owe you one." Freeze smiled and turned to the missing wall and the street. "I will return to Arkham, Batman you have a lunatic to capture."

Batman ran up the stairwell as fast as he could. He still was not sure footed after the explosion and his suit was burned badly. He kicked in the closed door of where Kramer had been, but all that remained was some broken lap tops and debris.

The Dark Knight would follow all the reports he could through many months but no Jigsaw. He had vanished.

Bruce Wayne sat in the cave sipping coffee, his eyes closed as he listened to the drip of water in the distance or a cry of a bat. Wayne Industries would fund Victor Freeze lab for as long as he wanted it and Jim Gordon finally went on his vacation, again funded by an unknown contributor. "An addiction, yes it is an addiction…an addiction I can . live with."


End file.
